PITTSBURGH -- If the Pirates have a proven strength in 2026, it’s unequivocally their offense against right-handed pitching. Pittsburgh entered Tuesday with the most hits against righties (688) and the second-highest OPS (.779) in all of baseball.
Yet, for the second night in a row, the Pirates were stumped by the Diamondbacks' starting pitching, falling behind by six runs before losing 8-7 in 12 innings after a valiant comeback effort at PNC Park.
Combining Monday’s start by Merrill Kelly and Tuesday’s by Brandon Pfaadt, Pittsburgh posted no earned runs in 12 2/3 innings while tallying 10 hits and striking out 10 times. The Pirates must now beat the left-handed Eduardo Rodriguez (2.64 ERA) on Wednesday to win the series against Arizona and climb back into the final NL Wild Card spot.
“He changed speeds pretty well on us and mixed it in and out,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Pfaadt postgame. “It seemed like the changeup was giving us trouble tonight, and we had a hard time staying on it. Proud of the guys staying in the fight and finding the way there at the end.”
The numbers look the part of what the Pirates have shown against lefties. Just this past weekend, Pittsburgh began its series against the Cubs’ Matthew Boyd and then Shota Imanaga, combining for one run on 11 hits in 13 innings. The Pirates fell in both contests.
Although, the two performances against Chicago shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise for those tuning in all season. Pittsburgh is tied for 18th in MLB in on-base percentage versus lefties (.313). Facing lefties on the bump has become such a glaring need that it will likely be addressed in the coming days ahead of Monday's 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.
“That's been kind of a thing this year,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on Sunday. “We haven't hummed against lefties as we have against righties. We’ve beaten some and I think we're capable of winning games against lefties certainly, but it is an area we're going to continue to look at how we can improve in.”
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But struggles against righties? That’s essentially been nonexistent.
Sure, Pittsburgh has missed the pop of lefties Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz, but not enough to hold it back against right-handers.
After tagging Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, a soft-throwing righty, on Sunday for seven runs, Merrill Kelly brought the Pirates back to earth. He threw 5 2/3 innings and allowed only four hits as Pittsburgh tallied an unearned run in his final inning of work. Don Kelly switched Pittsburgh’s lineup a bit from Monday to Tuesday to include Marcell Ozuna and Endy Rodríguez instead of Tyler Callihan and Henry Davis. Results did not follow against the starter.
Pfaadt looked to be in the form many saw on the national stage in the 2023 NLCS against the Phillies. He mixed six pitches evenly and kept Pirates batters off balance with his changeup and sweeper.
In the seventh, Ozuna dribbled a single up the middle, but Pfaadt worked out of it unscathed, finishing his line with seven scoreless innings with 70 strikes on 101 pitches. Only three runners moved into scoring position against him.
Pittsburgh attempted a comeback once it reached Arizona’s bullpen and scored three in the eighth inning. It added three more in the ninth as Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds belted back-to-back home runs. The Pirates faced six Diamondbacks relievers, with five throwing from the right side. All seven runs came against righties.
As both sides wrestled back and forth in extra innings, the Pirates came up short in the 12th.
It was the hole set by Pfaadt that forced Pittsburgh to chase down Arizona all night.
“You take all the positives that you can out of it,” Lowe said. “Came down from 6-0 in the eighth, and they're throwing their guys out there, and they're trying to finish out the game, and we were able to put up six runs in two innings, and that speaks volumes.”
The back-to-back games without scoring an earned run against a starter are the first time Pittsburgh has done so since falling to the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez (shutout) and Zack Wheeler (7 IP) in mid-May. It’s the first time the Pirates have done so against two right-handed starters all season, last falling into similar trouble in mid-August 2025 against the Brewers’ Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff.
Reinforcements are coming soon with Horwitz nearing a return from the injured list and Cruz right behind him. But as for their newfound struggles against righties, the Pirates hope it’s more of an anomaly than a pattern.
If the eighth, ninth and 10th innings were any tell, the Pirates will be just fine.